I only ever played the first game, and suffered from going in with the wrong attitude. I was expecting a more open game than it was, with multiple ways of making your hits, whereas it was essentially a puzzle game. Did that change throughout the series?

There's usually only one or two "perfect" ways of solving a mission, but most missions in the later games have multiple satisfying ways of winning. Coming up with clever ways to deal with a problem is the best part of this series.

I've only played the most recent one but enjoyed it so much that I think I've played it through 3 or 4 times. One of my 5 go-to games when there's nothing new and shiny to grab my attention. And the levels seemed pretty open to me-there were certainly some "ideal" ways to do certain things but you could certainly be creative and ignore those. Often there were multiple very cool ways to take someone out and replaying levels allowed you to discover all kinds of different ways. It's only 10 bucks on Steam and you'll definitely get that much value out of it if you've not played it before.

In any case, if Hitman 5 is of the caliber that 4 was then I am seriously looking forward to it.

The instinct mode that IO has introduced is a new feature for the series – it allows 47 to see through walls, as well as gaining the ability to see a sort of red fire-trail for the patrol route or intended destination of an enemy.

where's the fun in that? luckily it's an ability, so hopefully you can avoid using it if you don't want to.

« Last Edit: June 08, 2011, 03:33:21 PM by CeeKay »

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The fun of using instinct mode is that it allows you to be stealthy without spending an hour in one place watching a patrol route, and be more like a movie stealth, where the main character just seems to do it instinctively. I've actually been wanting the exact feature in stealth games for a while now.

uh oh, could Hitman Absolution be the last Hitman game we have to wait more than a year for, as in the franchise becoming almost yearly?

Quote

MONTREAL, Nov. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Square Enix Group, an integrated entertainment group, has today announced plans for further expansion in Montreal with the growth of its Eidos-Montreal studio and the creation of a new second studio, Square Enix Montreal, to open in 2012.

Eidos-Montreal, a studio which was established in 2007, released its first game, DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION™; to critical acclaim (Metacritic score of 90% for PC and 89% for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as of November 20, 2011) earlier this year. DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION, which has to date shipped over 2 million units worldwide, firmly cemented the studio's credentials in global development and delivered on its promise to produce AAA games. Eidos-Montreal will now create an additional 100 new jobs, driving work on a third AAA project at the studio, alongside the DEUS EX® and THIEF® franchises. The studio will also expand its state-of-the-art facilities, including in-house audio recording and motion tracking studios and a mini-theatre.

Plans unveiled today also confirmed the creation of Square Enix Montreal, a new second studio for the Square Enix Group in Montreal, which will open in 2012 and create 150 jobs. Tasked with building AAA games for tomorrow's audiences, the studio will be led by Lee Singleton, currently general manager of Square Enix London Studios. Singleton brings over 20 years studio management as well as direct development experience to this role.

The first project at Square Enix Montreal will be to work on a new premium quality game in the award-winning HITMAN® franchise. This further investment will expand the vision for the HITMAN franchise and mean that two studios will now be working on future HITMAN games: IO Interactive, a Square Enix studio based in Copenhagen, creator of the HITMAN franchise is currently developing HITMAN ABSOLUTION™ and now Square Enix Montreal also.

or could it just mean they'll be co-developed?

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it wouldn't be that hard to make a new series involving Russians invading the US. Modern Warfare 2 & 3 gave people a taste of it (and Homefront added some Asian seasoning) so it could do decently for them.

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it wouldn't be that hard to make a new series involving Russians invading the US. Modern Warfare 2 & 3 gave people a taste of it (and Homefront added some Asian seasoning) so it could do decently for them.

Oh gawd, if they take one look at Homefront's sales and critical bashing and its developer's virtual demise, an FF sequel will never happen!

Besides, it'll be "Lets make it an FPS and take out all that squad command stuff, and script it to death! Nobody wants that tactical crap! And put some damn zombies in it!" Maybe I should just rescind the whole FF sequel dream.

It still looks way too linear for me. They mention that some of the missions are still sandbox kind of missions, but really that's exactly what made hitman so fantastic, I don't want some linear story with actiony set pieces like this seems to be. Hopefully I am wrong but at the moment it doesn't excite me too much.

RPS ending thought: 'If this were the first Hitman game I’d played, I wouldn’t want to play another, but there’s just about enough in Absolution’s finer moments to keep the hope alive. Remember though: it’s the hope, not the hitman, that kills you in the end. As it is, I’ve already reinstalled Bloody Money as a sort of palate cleanser and I suggest you do the same.'

« Last Edit: November 18, 2012, 04:30:17 PM by CeeKay »

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You made the point "Save system supports careful gameplay – balances progress without harsh punishment". What if your gameplay isn't that careful? Say, if you wander about a bit on the map, trying different approaches? Do you end up at the very beginning of the level each time?

You made the point "Save system supports careful gameplay – balances progress without harsh punishment". What if your gameplay isn't that careful? Say, if you wander about a bit on the map, trying different approaches? Do you end up at the very beginning of the level each time?

Well, you can use the one save point however you wish, but you can only activate it when guards aren't on high alert. If you want to slaughter everyone on the level wholesale and you die, yea, you'll end up at the beginning of the level. If you kill half and save, well, then you'll end up there.

You made the point "Save system supports careful gameplay – balances progress without harsh punishment". What if your gameplay isn't that careful? Say, if you wander about a bit on the map, trying different approaches? Do you end up at the very beginning of the level each time?

Well, you can use the one save point however you wish, but you can only activate it when guards aren't on high alert. If you want to slaughter everyone on the level wholesale and you die, yea, you'll end up at the beginning of the level. If you kill half and save, well, then you'll end up there.

Excellent Review! This will be the first Hitman game I've ever played. I love the stealth genre, and have worked my way through Deus Ex, Metal Gear, Dishonored and Splinter Cell. I'm hoping this game lives up to the hype. People on a few forums have been bashing it relentlessly for straying from the 'hardcore' design school, but from your review it sounds like the developers did a good job creating difficulty levels for ALL gamers. Nothing wrong with that.

Very happy to see the inclusion of adjustable difficulty. On more than a few games I never would have seen the ending if it wasn't for that feature. I love playing on 'difficult' normally, but sometimes that can make specific bosses an absolute grind and chore to pass.

Holy crap! I was thinking of getting this for the 360, I wonder if it comes on multiple disks?

I believe the game comes on one disk, but I've seen a few comparison playthroughs on Youtube, and the console version is still very respectable. I'd equate it to Witcher 2 or Metro 2033 on the console. They did a great job keeping up with the PC versions in both of those titles. I was also happy to see that the console version of Hitman managed to keep almost the same number of NPCs on the screen as the PC version, in high density places like the dance club.